Impacts of Post-Fire Debris Flows on Fluvial Morphology and Sediment Transport in a California Central Coast Stream

Abstract

Post-fire debris flows alter impacted fluvial systems, but few studies quantify the magnitude and timing of reach-scale channel response to these events. In August 2020, the Big Creek watershed along California's central coast burned in the Dolan Fire; in January 2021, an atmospheric river event triggered post-fire debris flows in steep tributaries to the Big Creek. Here, we characterize the evolution of fluvial morphology and grain size in Big Creek, a cascade and step-pool channel downstream of tributaries in which post-fire debris flows initiated, using pre- and post-fire structure from motion (SfM) and airborne lidar surveys. We also make comparisons to Devil's Creek, an adjacent basin which burned but did not experience post-fire debris flows. We observe grain size fining following debris flows in Big Creek, but the coarsest 40% of the grain size distribution remained essentially unchanged despite reorganization of channel structure. Changes in grain size and elevated post-fire peak flows account for approximately equal portions of a substantial increase in modeled bedload transport capacity one year post-fire. In Big Creek, geomorphic recovery is well underway just two years post-fire. A valley-spanning log jam, which formed during debris flows, acts as a sediment trap upstream of our Big Creek study reach, and is partially responsible for accelerating recovery processes. In contrast, Devil's Creek exhibited little change in morphology or grain size despite elevated post-fire peak flows. This period of geomorphic dynamism following the Dolan Fire has complex ecological impacts, notably for the threatened anadromous salmonid spawning habitat in Big Creek.